Lewis Hamilton ‘no longer on same level’ as ‘untouchable’ Max Verstappen

Thomas Maher 26 Oct 2023 7:00 AM

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton discuss their race.

Max Verstappen is away out in front in a league of his own, with not even Lewis Hamilton on his level anymore, according to a former F1 team manager.

The most dominant drivers of the past 10 years, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, have divided opinion amongst fans and pundits alike over recent years as to which of the pair is the stronger.

Hamilton, once the sport’s undisputed number one, has had to watch on helplessly as Verstappen has romped to two consecutive titles since beating the Mercedes driver to a controversial maiden title in 2021, and a former F1 team manager believes the British driver is no longer at his rival’s level.

Joan Villadelprat: Very difficult for anyone to stop ‘untouchable’ Max Verstappen

Speaking about the rivalry of the two drivers in an exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com coming into the United States Grand Prix, in which the pair finished 2.2 seconds apart at the head of the field before Hamilton’s disqualification, former Benetton team manager Joan Villadelprat said he reckons Max Verstappen is so far clear of the rest, that the Red Bull may not even be as dominant a car as one might imagine.

“No,” he said bluntly, when asked if he believes Hamilton and Verstappen are of the same level.

“Lewis is making mistakes.

“The key thing is we don’t know how good is the Red Bull. Because you can compare the Mercedes car as [George] Russell is good and he’s there with Hamilton. You can’t do that with Red Bull.

“Red Bull is Max and Checo [Perez] is a second behind and he is not a bad driver, he’s a very quick driver!

“Maybe the way that Red Bull has developed the car, maybe the way that Max is asking things, maybe what you do to the car to make Max quicker is completely against what Checo wants.”

Adding to the hypothetical, Villadelprat was asked whether he believes Verstappen would come on top if he and Hamilton were put into the same car.

“I think, today, yes,” he said.

“I think today he’s got such confidence.

“The body language, what you see, the way he approaches the weekend, the way he points the car, the way he does the first lap. Because Max, in one lap, he’s there, bam, that’s it.

“That’s his confidence, he’s got the confidence now that he is untouchable, when an F1 driver, a World Champion, gets to that stage, it is very difficult to stop it.”

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Joan Villadelprat: Max Verstappen’s teammates are not even close

Villadelprat, who also enjoyed stints with Ferrari, McLaren, and Prost during a long career in F1, spoke of his admiration of Hamilton, but said the performances of his teammates relative to how Verstappen’s teammates have performed suggest the Dutch driver is the stronger.

“Hamilton has had moments [where he’s untouchable],” he said.

“I love Hamilton. He has had a very good time with Mercedes, he was lucky enough to get paired with the best engine in the paddock. That was reinforced for a while, it was the most powerful package – not only the chassis, but the engine in particular, and that helped him to win a lot of championships.

“If you compare [Nico] Rosberg and Hamilton, I didn’t think Rosberg was anything special. Rosberg, and even [Valtteri] Bottas, were sometimes quicker than Hamilton in qualifying, and they weren’t special drivers.

“I don’t see Max has that. His teammate is not even close. And the teammate is not bad, he is as quick as Bottas, as quick as Russell, and as quick as Rosberg. That’s what I think, it’s not even close, so I don’t know how much is the car and how much is Max?”